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R.L.T.C.'s survey asks more questions than
answers concering land payment
By Larry D. Adams
According to a "Red Lake Band of
Chippewa Indian Member Survey
Nelson Act Use And Distribution
Plan" that was mailed out on July
14th, 1997, the Red Lake Tribal
Council's is attempting to find out how
it's members prefer to have a
$27,005,000 land settlement disbursed.
With $24,304,500 left over after a
10 per cent or $2,700,500 going to
attorney fees, the survey, which has
been sent out to Red Lake members
across Turtle Island, has three
different disbursement plans.
"Hypothetical Option 1", according
to the survey, there would be a $500-
dollar-per-capita payment to Red Lake
members. That would leave a
$20,034,500 balance as "Potential
Investment Income [of] $166,954.00
[a] month to the Band at 10%.
"Hypothetical Option 2" would
include a $1,000 per capita payment
to Red Lake members, leaving a
$16,304,500 balance for "Potential
Investment Income of $135,871 [a]
month to the Band at 10%.
On the survey as "Hypothetical
Option 3" is the probably the one most
Red Lake members will choose,
because there would be a $2,430.45
per capita payment to each Red Lake
member with a $4,860,900 balance,
with a "Potential Investment Income
[of] $40,508.00 [a] month to the Band
at 10%."
From there, the survey says "All of
the above examples are
approximations, with final numbers to
be determined by actual enrollment at
the cut-off date (which has not yet
been set) and by market fluctuations
for investments." This must suggest
that the Red Lake Tribal Council still
plans to set a date in which certain
members will not get a full per capita
Survey cont'd on 8
R.L.T.C.'s survey asks more questions than answers
Mpls. found in contempt for defying court order
Leech Lake demands change at last
White Earth open meeting a welcome change
Secrecy clouds removal of tribal chairman/ pg 3
Voice ofthe People
1
Minneapolis found in contempt for defying
fire department court order
By Gary Blair
U.S. Federal Judge Robert G.
Renner has ruled in favor of a contempt case filed against the City of
Minneapolis by a group of minority
Firefighter Cadets who claimed they
were wrongfully terminated by the
City last November when they did not
past physchological examinations.
The 25 page decision's introduction
reads: "Before the court is the motion of Plaintiff Class for an adjudication of contempt based on the failure of Defendant City of Minneapolis
to comply with the orders of this
Court. For the following reasons, the
motion is granted."
For the past three years the PRESS
has reported on the problems involv
ing the City of Minneapolis' recruitment of minority firefighters. Based
on Judge Renner's ruling last Friday,
those difficulties over the hiring of
minority fire cadets are finally starting to be revealed.
The background information contained in the case reads as follows:
"Twenty-seven years ago, a class comprised of African-American, Hispanic,
and Native-American prospective
firefighters sued the City alleging race
discrimination in violation ofthe federal constitution. These allegations
were sustained at trial, and this Court
entered a consent decree which comprehensively regulated the recruitment
and hiring practices ofthe Minneapolis Fire Department. The orders of this
Court
—affirmed in relevant respects by the
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals—set
fourth exacting procedures to be followed.
"Of particular concern were the 'selection devices,' that is, tests or other
requirements used to screen applicants. Before new tests could be used,
the decree required that they 'validated' (shown to test for characteristics required for the job of firefighter)
and shown to lack an adverse effect
on minority applicants. Also, the
court's orders prohibited the use of
'arrest history' information and restricted the use of'conviction history'
in making hiring decisions.
"This did not, unfortunately, conclude the matter. The original decree
has since been modified twice, and the
Court cont'd on 6
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988
Volume 9 Issue 40
July 1 8, 1 997
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe News, 1337
Leech Lake demands change at last
After year of false promises, political stalemate
a statement apparently drafted by a
By Jeff Armstrong
Nearly one year after presiding over
a General Council meeting at which
the people of Leech Lake voted nearly
unanimously to replace the existing
RBC with an interim community-
based council headed by the new
chairman, Eli Hunt apologized for the
first six months of his term, a period
marked by unprecedented public participation—and conflict with the incumbent RBC members.
"First I wish to extend my apologies
for the turmoil that existed in the first
six months of my term," Hunt said in
tribal employee and delivered late to
the meeting (for which he also apologized). "I need not ask you to remember the particulars of the turmoil of
the first six months of my term. Within
two weeks of taking office, I dismissed
top level employees and appointed
replacements. There had not been a
consensus about those actions being
right or constitutional."
leading his prepared speech at the
July 11 RBC meeting, Hunt looked
very much like the RBC figurehead
he swore he'd never become, though
the chairman livened up considerably
in the lengthy open forum later.
and backroom deals
After Hunt was elected last June, he
was shut out of RBC business to such
an extent that he feared the incumbents—some of whom had been convicted in a million dollar insurance
scam—would refuse to swear him into
office. The chairman-elect had no
choice but to go to the people, and as
many as 500 Anishinabe Leech Lakers packed the Palace's Paradise
Room for a series of meetings in
which Hunt took the lead from th/J.
people, in all likelihood a first-time
occurrence in the 60-year history of
the six-reservation Minnesota
Change cont'd on 6
White Earth open meeting a welcome
change, but questions left unanswered
Off-duty Mahnomen County deputy John McArthur (center-top) physically intervenes in scuffle involving
brother Darwin June 15 in White Earth. Funded by a U.S. Justice Department COPS grant as a community
liaison officer, John McArthur has long been linked to racially-motivated assaults. Orville Bower (center-
bottom) was charged with 3rd degree assault and held on $15,000 bail in the incident.
Off-duty Mahnomen cop joins brother 'Darb'
McArthur in White Earth brawl
By Gary Blair
The White Earth Tribal Council
held its first urban council meeting at
the future site of the Upper Midwest
American Indian Center in north Minneapolis last Monday.
The historical event offset the days
when tribal council meetings were
held off the reservation and in secret
to avoid the bitter confrontation with
tribal members who opposed the
reservation's past administration. The
former regime included three members who have since been imprisoned
for corruption.
The two and a half hour meeting was
attended by more than fifty people
centered around the legacy of corruption left by former chairman Darrell
"Chip" Wadena, Secretary/Treasurer,
Jerry Rawley and District One Rep.
Rickie Clark. The reservation's new
tribal chairman, Eugene "Bugger"
McArthur promised the group that a
subsequent meeting would be held this
fall and announced later.
Spiritual leader and White Earth
enrollee Larry Cloud Morgan opened
the meeting with a pipe ceremony and
prayer. Cloud Morgan asked that a
Eagle Feather be held when anyone
spoke. "That was done in the old
days," he said as he presented the
feather to be used.
Reports were given by the new
council members and executive staff
on the progress they felt they had
made since taking office and assuming their positions. The meeting, however, was not without controversy, as
a small group of reservation residents
who had lost their jobs showed-up and
asked to speak.
"I am the one who got all those (land)
leases," said Marge Dalve, one of
those who recently lost her job with
the reservation's land office. Dalve
was attempting to discredit Sam
Rock, the land office's new director,
who had just told the group about the
improvements that he plans to implement. Rock's plans include a lease
increase for White held lake shore
Meeting cont'd on 5
Two indicted in violence at Red Lake
By Nate Bowe
Bemidji Pioneer Staff Writer
Two people have been indicted by
a federal grand jury in connection with
recent violence on the Red Lake
Reservation, U.S. Attorney David
Lillehaug said Wednesday.
Kelly Marie Greene, 23, of Blaine
was charged with the June 14 assault
on Michael Chad Beaulieu, who was
severely beaten - reportedly by a group
of people with baseball bats - after he
left a residence on the reservation.
A second indictment charged
Michael Dafoe, 43, of Redby with
assault with a dangerous weapon for
firing numerous shotgun blasts into a
house June 14 on the reservation.
Eight women and seven children were
in the home at the time but managed
to escape injury. The indictment
said Dafoe was accompanied by a
juvenile with an assault rifle.
These indictments are another
indication that we're doing everything
we can to stem the wave of violence
that the Red lake Reservation
experienced in late May and the end
of June," Lillehaug said in an
interview.
"Happily we've seen less violence
on the Red Lake Reservation in the
last few weeks and that's a very
positive sign. If there is more violence,
people are going to be prosecuted,"
he said.
If convicted, Greene and Dafoe face
maximum potential penalties of 10
years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Any sentences would be determined
by judges based on the federal
Indicted cont'd on 6
Anishinaabeg Today
WHITE EARTH VILLAGE - The
tribal executive director and his
brother, an off-duty Mahnomen
County deputy sheriff, were major
players in a small brawl here on
powwow weekend which culminated
in the arrest ofa tribal member.
The incident began right after the ball
tournament June 15, when umpire
Robbie Bellanger asked Executive
Director Darwin "Darb" McArthur to
pay him his wages for having umpired
games through the weekend.
McArthur was slated to distribute the
money to umpires. Bellanger said
McArthur then told him that he would
get his money when Bellanger paid up
his bill at McArthur's store.
McArthur said it didn't happen quite
like that. He said that Bellanger asked
him for his pay and McArthur replied
that he didn't have it with him, but that
Bellanger could come in to the Tribal
Center the next day to get it. When
Bellanger argued that he didn't want
to wait, McArthur said he pointed out
that he had to wait for Bellanger to
pay his bill at the store, so Bellanger
could do the same. As the argument
grew more heated, McArthur said he
then suggested that maybe he should
just keep Bellanger's pay and apply it
on his bill. He said he made the remark
out of anger.
McArthur also said the other umpires
didn't seem to have a problem about
coming in the next day for their pay,
and they did so. He acknowledged that
in years past the umpires have
received their pay right at the site.
Brawl cont'd on 8
Fines waived after tribes
submit casino audits
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Two
Minnesota Indian tribes won't be fined
now that they have submitted required
audits of their gambling operations.
The National Indian Gaming
Commission said Monday it reached
agreements with the Red Lake Band
of Chippewa and the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Sioux Community.
In May, the commission issued
violation notices to the tribes for failing
to submit 1996 audit reports for then-
casinos.
The Red Lake Band admitted it failed
to submit the audits in a timely manner
for its Lake ofthe Woods Casino and
Bingo, the Red Lake Casino and Bingo
and the Red River Casino and Bingo,
the commission said. The Shakopee
tribe admitted it didn't submit audits
for the Little Six Casino.
The commission now has received
the audits and won't impose a fine.
The tribes could have been fined up to
$25,000 per violation for each day the
audits were overdue.
The three-person commission
enforces the Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act.
Tribal and state judges to meet
Menominees may drop treaty rights claim
SHAWANO, Wis. (AP) _ The
Menominee Indians may abandon a
claim to hunting and fishing rights on
millions of off-reservation acres in
eastern and central Wisconsin, tribal
Chairman Apesanahkwat said.
"I think we have to consider whether
we should spend additional money
when we are in a financial crunch,"
Apesanahkwat said.
The tribe maintained in a 1995
lawsuit its ancestors had been misled
when they exchanged up to 10 million
acres in an 1848 treaty for land in
Minnesota. The Minnesota land was
traded in 1851 for what is now the
Menominee Indian Reservation in
northeastern Wisconsin.
Federal Judge Barbara Crabb
dismissed the tribe's lawsuit in
September, ruling that even if the
United States misled the Menominees,
the court could not rewrite a treaty.
"Even treaties that are the product
of bribery, fraud or duress are valid
and must be enforced," Crabb said.
Crabb, "who has been a champion
of Indian treaty rights" was very
thorough in her review of the case,
Apesanahkwat said Tuesday in an
interview with Shawano Leader. "She
read every line and every sentence."
The Menominees appealed Crabb's
ruling in October. But Apesanahkwat,
who was elected in January, said he
doubts the value of hunting and fishing
rights on waters between Green Bay
and the Fox River Valley are worth the
cost.
"I don't know too many fishermen
up here who fish for sustenance who
are too interested in fishing for PCB-
laden fish from the Fox River,"
Claim cont'd on 3
Anishinaabeg Today (White Earth)
Tribal judges and state judges from
Minnesota will meet July 18 on the
Prairie Island Mdewakanton
reservation near Red Wing to get
acquainted and establish a forum in
which they can sort out issues in
future, such as how one type of court
will handle orders issued by another.
The objective, said Justice Sandra
Gardebring of the Minnesota Stare
Supreme Court, is "to let our state
court judges, mostly, become
acquainted with the other system. We
know that reservations have been
creating these courts and are
becoming more and more active.
We're beginning to get orders from
tribal courts and we don't have a full
faith and credit mechanism to enforce
them. How do we handle orders
coming from the other system?"
For example, courts need a way to
deal with issues like Indian child
welfare and civil suits such as
wrongful death. A few years ago, a
Menominee Nation court ruled an off-
reservation, non-Indian firm liable in
an injury to a member when the firm
was doing business on the reservation,
and fined it. Because Wisconsin courts
recognized the order from
Menominee, the firm couldn't just
leave the reservation and ignore the
order.
A tribal court representative said
another prime objective ofthe meeting
is to educate state judges about tribal
courts, because many don't seem to
understand that tribes have the
sovereign right to have a judicial
system.
The meeting will include
representatives of the state Supreme
Court, appellate court and trial courts;
judges from the Dakota reservations
and Red .Lake; and representatives
from other reservations. Although
White Earth isn't sending anyone, the
RTC has asked a participant to give
them a report. Gardebring said this is
a preliminary meeting and the group
probably will meet on a regular basis,
in a state court one time and on a
reservation the next.
"I feel very optimistic about this,"
Gardebring said. "I think we'll have
some good come out of it."
A meeting scheduled for earlier was
cancelled because the Northern Plains
Tribal Court Judges Association was
meeting at the time in Morton.
Gardebring said she went there as an
observer.

R.L.T.C.'s survey asks more questions than
answers concering land payment
By Larry D. Adams
According to a "Red Lake Band of
Chippewa Indian Member Survey
Nelson Act Use And Distribution
Plan" that was mailed out on July
14th, 1997, the Red Lake Tribal
Council's is attempting to find out how
it's members prefer to have a
$27,005,000 land settlement disbursed.
With $24,304,500 left over after a
10 per cent or $2,700,500 going to
attorney fees, the survey, which has
been sent out to Red Lake members
across Turtle Island, has three
different disbursement plans.
"Hypothetical Option 1", according
to the survey, there would be a $500-
dollar-per-capita payment to Red Lake
members. That would leave a
$20,034,500 balance as "Potential
Investment Income [of] $166,954.00
[a] month to the Band at 10%.
"Hypothetical Option 2" would
include a $1,000 per capita payment
to Red Lake members, leaving a
$16,304,500 balance for "Potential
Investment Income of $135,871 [a]
month to the Band at 10%.
On the survey as "Hypothetical
Option 3" is the probably the one most
Red Lake members will choose,
because there would be a $2,430.45
per capita payment to each Red Lake
member with a $4,860,900 balance,
with a "Potential Investment Income
[of] $40,508.00 [a] month to the Band
at 10%."
From there, the survey says "All of
the above examples are
approximations, with final numbers to
be determined by actual enrollment at
the cut-off date (which has not yet
been set) and by market fluctuations
for investments." This must suggest
that the Red Lake Tribal Council still
plans to set a date in which certain
members will not get a full per capita
Survey cont'd on 8
R.L.T.C.'s survey asks more questions than answers
Mpls. found in contempt for defying court order
Leech Lake demands change at last
White Earth open meeting a welcome change
Secrecy clouds removal of tribal chairman/ pg 3
Voice ofthe People
1
Minneapolis found in contempt for defying
fire department court order
By Gary Blair
U.S. Federal Judge Robert G.
Renner has ruled in favor of a contempt case filed against the City of
Minneapolis by a group of minority
Firefighter Cadets who claimed they
were wrongfully terminated by the
City last November when they did not
past physchological examinations.
The 25 page decision's introduction
reads: "Before the court is the motion of Plaintiff Class for an adjudication of contempt based on the failure of Defendant City of Minneapolis
to comply with the orders of this
Court. For the following reasons, the
motion is granted."
For the past three years the PRESS
has reported on the problems involv
ing the City of Minneapolis' recruitment of minority firefighters. Based
on Judge Renner's ruling last Friday,
those difficulties over the hiring of
minority fire cadets are finally starting to be revealed.
The background information contained in the case reads as follows:
"Twenty-seven years ago, a class comprised of African-American, Hispanic,
and Native-American prospective
firefighters sued the City alleging race
discrimination in violation ofthe federal constitution. These allegations
were sustained at trial, and this Court
entered a consent decree which comprehensively regulated the recruitment
and hiring practices ofthe Minneapolis Fire Department. The orders of this
Court
—affirmed in relevant respects by the
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals—set
fourth exacting procedures to be followed.
"Of particular concern were the 'selection devices,' that is, tests or other
requirements used to screen applicants. Before new tests could be used,
the decree required that they 'validated' (shown to test for characteristics required for the job of firefighter)
and shown to lack an adverse effect
on minority applicants. Also, the
court's orders prohibited the use of
'arrest history' information and restricted the use of'conviction history'
in making hiring decisions.
"This did not, unfortunately, conclude the matter. The original decree
has since been modified twice, and the
Court cont'd on 6
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988
Volume 9 Issue 40
July 1 8, 1 997
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe News, 1337
Leech Lake demands change at last
After year of false promises, political stalemate
a statement apparently drafted by a
By Jeff Armstrong
Nearly one year after presiding over
a General Council meeting at which
the people of Leech Lake voted nearly
unanimously to replace the existing
RBC with an interim community-
based council headed by the new
chairman, Eli Hunt apologized for the
first six months of his term, a period
marked by unprecedented public participation—and conflict with the incumbent RBC members.
"First I wish to extend my apologies
for the turmoil that existed in the first
six months of my term," Hunt said in
tribal employee and delivered late to
the meeting (for which he also apologized). "I need not ask you to remember the particulars of the turmoil of
the first six months of my term. Within
two weeks of taking office, I dismissed
top level employees and appointed
replacements. There had not been a
consensus about those actions being
right or constitutional."
leading his prepared speech at the
July 11 RBC meeting, Hunt looked
very much like the RBC figurehead
he swore he'd never become, though
the chairman livened up considerably
in the lengthy open forum later.
and backroom deals
After Hunt was elected last June, he
was shut out of RBC business to such
an extent that he feared the incumbents—some of whom had been convicted in a million dollar insurance
scam—would refuse to swear him into
office. The chairman-elect had no
choice but to go to the people, and as
many as 500 Anishinabe Leech Lakers packed the Palace's Paradise
Room for a series of meetings in
which Hunt took the lead from th/J.
people, in all likelihood a first-time
occurrence in the 60-year history of
the six-reservation Minnesota
Change cont'd on 6
White Earth open meeting a welcome
change, but questions left unanswered
Off-duty Mahnomen County deputy John McArthur (center-top) physically intervenes in scuffle involving
brother Darwin June 15 in White Earth. Funded by a U.S. Justice Department COPS grant as a community
liaison officer, John McArthur has long been linked to racially-motivated assaults. Orville Bower (center-
bottom) was charged with 3rd degree assault and held on $15,000 bail in the incident.
Off-duty Mahnomen cop joins brother 'Darb'
McArthur in White Earth brawl
By Gary Blair
The White Earth Tribal Council
held its first urban council meeting at
the future site of the Upper Midwest
American Indian Center in north Minneapolis last Monday.
The historical event offset the days
when tribal council meetings were
held off the reservation and in secret
to avoid the bitter confrontation with
tribal members who opposed the
reservation's past administration. The
former regime included three members who have since been imprisoned
for corruption.
The two and a half hour meeting was
attended by more than fifty people
centered around the legacy of corruption left by former chairman Darrell
"Chip" Wadena, Secretary/Treasurer,
Jerry Rawley and District One Rep.
Rickie Clark. The reservation's new
tribal chairman, Eugene "Bugger"
McArthur promised the group that a
subsequent meeting would be held this
fall and announced later.
Spiritual leader and White Earth
enrollee Larry Cloud Morgan opened
the meeting with a pipe ceremony and
prayer. Cloud Morgan asked that a
Eagle Feather be held when anyone
spoke. "That was done in the old
days," he said as he presented the
feather to be used.
Reports were given by the new
council members and executive staff
on the progress they felt they had
made since taking office and assuming their positions. The meeting, however, was not without controversy, as
a small group of reservation residents
who had lost their jobs showed-up and
asked to speak.
"I am the one who got all those (land)
leases," said Marge Dalve, one of
those who recently lost her job with
the reservation's land office. Dalve
was attempting to discredit Sam
Rock, the land office's new director,
who had just told the group about the
improvements that he plans to implement. Rock's plans include a lease
increase for White held lake shore
Meeting cont'd on 5
Two indicted in violence at Red Lake
By Nate Bowe
Bemidji Pioneer Staff Writer
Two people have been indicted by
a federal grand jury in connection with
recent violence on the Red Lake
Reservation, U.S. Attorney David
Lillehaug said Wednesday.
Kelly Marie Greene, 23, of Blaine
was charged with the June 14 assault
on Michael Chad Beaulieu, who was
severely beaten - reportedly by a group
of people with baseball bats - after he
left a residence on the reservation.
A second indictment charged
Michael Dafoe, 43, of Redby with
assault with a dangerous weapon for
firing numerous shotgun blasts into a
house June 14 on the reservation.
Eight women and seven children were
in the home at the time but managed
to escape injury. The indictment
said Dafoe was accompanied by a
juvenile with an assault rifle.
These indictments are another
indication that we're doing everything
we can to stem the wave of violence
that the Red lake Reservation
experienced in late May and the end
of June," Lillehaug said in an
interview.
"Happily we've seen less violence
on the Red Lake Reservation in the
last few weeks and that's a very
positive sign. If there is more violence,
people are going to be prosecuted,"
he said.
If convicted, Greene and Dafoe face
maximum potential penalties of 10
years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Any sentences would be determined
by judges based on the federal
Indicted cont'd on 6
Anishinaabeg Today
WHITE EARTH VILLAGE - The
tribal executive director and his
brother, an off-duty Mahnomen
County deputy sheriff, were major
players in a small brawl here on
powwow weekend which culminated
in the arrest ofa tribal member.
The incident began right after the ball
tournament June 15, when umpire
Robbie Bellanger asked Executive
Director Darwin "Darb" McArthur to
pay him his wages for having umpired
games through the weekend.
McArthur was slated to distribute the
money to umpires. Bellanger said
McArthur then told him that he would
get his money when Bellanger paid up
his bill at McArthur's store.
McArthur said it didn't happen quite
like that. He said that Bellanger asked
him for his pay and McArthur replied
that he didn't have it with him, but that
Bellanger could come in to the Tribal
Center the next day to get it. When
Bellanger argued that he didn't want
to wait, McArthur said he pointed out
that he had to wait for Bellanger to
pay his bill at the store, so Bellanger
could do the same. As the argument
grew more heated, McArthur said he
then suggested that maybe he should
just keep Bellanger's pay and apply it
on his bill. He said he made the remark
out of anger.
McArthur also said the other umpires
didn't seem to have a problem about
coming in the next day for their pay,
and they did so. He acknowledged that
in years past the umpires have
received their pay right at the site.
Brawl cont'd on 8
Fines waived after tribes
submit casino audits
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Two
Minnesota Indian tribes won't be fined
now that they have submitted required
audits of their gambling operations.
The National Indian Gaming
Commission said Monday it reached
agreements with the Red Lake Band
of Chippewa and the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Sioux Community.
In May, the commission issued
violation notices to the tribes for failing
to submit 1996 audit reports for then-
casinos.
The Red Lake Band admitted it failed
to submit the audits in a timely manner
for its Lake ofthe Woods Casino and
Bingo, the Red Lake Casino and Bingo
and the Red River Casino and Bingo,
the commission said. The Shakopee
tribe admitted it didn't submit audits
for the Little Six Casino.
The commission now has received
the audits and won't impose a fine.
The tribes could have been fined up to
$25,000 per violation for each day the
audits were overdue.
The three-person commission
enforces the Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act.
Tribal and state judges to meet
Menominees may drop treaty rights claim
SHAWANO, Wis. (AP) _ The
Menominee Indians may abandon a
claim to hunting and fishing rights on
millions of off-reservation acres in
eastern and central Wisconsin, tribal
Chairman Apesanahkwat said.
"I think we have to consider whether
we should spend additional money
when we are in a financial crunch,"
Apesanahkwat said.
The tribe maintained in a 1995
lawsuit its ancestors had been misled
when they exchanged up to 10 million
acres in an 1848 treaty for land in
Minnesota. The Minnesota land was
traded in 1851 for what is now the
Menominee Indian Reservation in
northeastern Wisconsin.
Federal Judge Barbara Crabb
dismissed the tribe's lawsuit in
September, ruling that even if the
United States misled the Menominees,
the court could not rewrite a treaty.
"Even treaties that are the product
of bribery, fraud or duress are valid
and must be enforced," Crabb said.
Crabb, "who has been a champion
of Indian treaty rights" was very
thorough in her review of the case,
Apesanahkwat said Tuesday in an
interview with Shawano Leader. "She
read every line and every sentence."
The Menominees appealed Crabb's
ruling in October. But Apesanahkwat,
who was elected in January, said he
doubts the value of hunting and fishing
rights on waters between Green Bay
and the Fox River Valley are worth the
cost.
"I don't know too many fishermen
up here who fish for sustenance who
are too interested in fishing for PCB-
laden fish from the Fox River,"
Claim cont'd on 3
Anishinaabeg Today (White Earth)
Tribal judges and state judges from
Minnesota will meet July 18 on the
Prairie Island Mdewakanton
reservation near Red Wing to get
acquainted and establish a forum in
which they can sort out issues in
future, such as how one type of court
will handle orders issued by another.
The objective, said Justice Sandra
Gardebring of the Minnesota Stare
Supreme Court, is "to let our state
court judges, mostly, become
acquainted with the other system. We
know that reservations have been
creating these courts and are
becoming more and more active.
We're beginning to get orders from
tribal courts and we don't have a full
faith and credit mechanism to enforce
them. How do we handle orders
coming from the other system?"
For example, courts need a way to
deal with issues like Indian child
welfare and civil suits such as
wrongful death. A few years ago, a
Menominee Nation court ruled an off-
reservation, non-Indian firm liable in
an injury to a member when the firm
was doing business on the reservation,
and fined it. Because Wisconsin courts
recognized the order from
Menominee, the firm couldn't just
leave the reservation and ignore the
order.
A tribal court representative said
another prime objective ofthe meeting
is to educate state judges about tribal
courts, because many don't seem to
understand that tribes have the
sovereign right to have a judicial
system.
The meeting will include
representatives of the state Supreme
Court, appellate court and trial courts;
judges from the Dakota reservations
and Red .Lake; and representatives
from other reservations. Although
White Earth isn't sending anyone, the
RTC has asked a participant to give
them a report. Gardebring said this is
a preliminary meeting and the group
probably will meet on a regular basis,
in a state court one time and on a
reservation the next.
"I feel very optimistic about this,"
Gardebring said. "I think we'll have
some good come out of it."
A meeting scheduled for earlier was
cancelled because the Northern Plains
Tribal Court Judges Association was
meeting at the time in Morton.
Gardebring said she went there as an
observer.